직원: “Before I can confirm the booking, we’ll need you to fill out your travel history and send that back to us.”

승객: “Cynthia, I have filled out my travel history half a dozen times already this year. I’ve told six different airlines that I flew to Detroit twice and Houston once. Every time I fly, I answer the same battery of questions. At least a dozen airlines have my travel history. Why don’t you get it from them?”

직원: “We have no way we could do that. We do not have access to other companies’ records, and our personnel have our own system for collecting travel history.”

승객: “But 95 percent of these questions are always the same. Don’t you know that every time I fill out one of these duplicative forms I increase the chance of error? Wouldn’t it make more sense to hold my travel information centrally, so that everyone could see the same thing?”

직원: “Sorry, sir, we have no capability for that, and we do need to have your travel history at least two weeks before you fly.”

승객: “I don’t suppose I could fill out these forms online?”

직원: “No, sir. The forms are only about 30 pages, though. Did you have that fax number, please?”

승객: “I don’t have a fax machine. No one faxes anymore. Just e-mail me the forms.”

직원: “I’m sorry, sir, we don’t use e-mail to transmit records and other personal or secure documents. We keep our records on paper.”